


Cuts Both Ways

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Feels Like Heaven [42]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Drama, F/M, Injury, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 06:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7607998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I, Edward Tucker,” he put his hand over his heart.  “Always have your, Olivia Benson’s, back.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cuts Both Ways

“Oh God, shit, ow, goddammit.”

“Liv?” Ed put down the _New Yorker_ magazine he was reading.

“Ed!”

The frantic sound of her voice made him jump up from the couch and rush into the kitchen. There was a lot of blood; Liv looked as if she was in shock. Ed froze for a few moments before grabbing her and rushing over to the sink. He turned on the cold water.

“How bad is it?” she asked, turning her face away from the blood circling the drain.

“I'm not sure yet, we’re going to have to let the bleeding stop.”

“Should I go to the hospital?” Liv’s voice was quaking. She'd seen her share of horrible things at crime scenes, and surely a lot of blood. Most people had no idea that the sight of her own made her queasy. If Ed hadn’t been there she might have passed out.

“Let's get you cleaned up and then we’ll see.”

Liv bit her lip hard as the cold water hit her finger with full force. Ed grabbed a piece of paper towel as he took her finger from under the water. He pressed it against the wound and the blood soaked through. He put her finger back under the water.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She mumbled.

“It’s alright, baby. It looks bad but not so bad.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“I think the bleeding is slowing down.” Ed replied.

Liv was feeling a bit faint but she wasn’t sure if it was the loss of blood or her own anxiety about the loss of blood. She gripped the counter with her free hand, holding tightly until her knuckles were nearly white.

“Are you alright? Do you need to sit down, baby?”

“I need the bleeding to stop.”

“We’re almost there.” 

Ed took more paper towel and wrapped her finger. Turning off the water, he helped Liv into the living room and she sat on the couch holding her hand close to her chest. He went back into the kitchen and grabbed the first aid kit from under one of the cabinets. Then he washed his hands, the last thing they needed is for an injury like this to become infected from carelessness. When he came back to sit on the couch beside her, Liv looked as white as a ghost. Ed was careful as he took her hand and held it in his.

“Are you with me, Liv?”

“I'm here.” She replied.

“I'm gonna unwrap the finger.”

“Just do it.” Liv closed her eyes.

Ed unwrapped the finger and took a good look at it. The cut was long and deep but he had seen deeper. He didn’t think it needed stitches even though it was by no means pretty. He opened the first aid kit and took out the peroxide wipes. 

Iodine and alcohol wipes were in there but he wasn’t going to chance using them. Liv would've screamed, Ed was sure. He wiped the wound clean and then put antibiotic ointment on it. There were large square Band-Aids in the kit so he wrapped one around the wound. Then he kissed it.

“That’s it?” she asked, opening her eyes.

“It’s gonna hurt like hell and could possibly bleed through before morning.”

“And you're sure it doesn’t need stitches? It’s a pretty deep cut.”

“It’s a deep cut but not a pretty deep cut.” Ed replied. “Doctors don’t often do stitches on fingers unless they're putting the finger back on. Thankfully, yours is still intact.”

“It didn’t feel like that when I cut it. Oh God,” Liv sighed. “I need to clean up the mess.”

“I’ll do it.” Ed stood, cleaning up the first aid remnants. “Are you still hungry, do you want me to make your salad?”

“I lost a lot of my appetite but I do need to eat. I don’t ever want to see a pepper again.”

“I bet. OK so spinach lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken, and light honey mustard dressing? Does that sound good?”

“You know me too well.”

Liv got up from the couch. She was a bit shaky but that was to be expected. She spent a minute or so getting her bearings and knew that Ed was looking at her. She gave him a thumbs up but couldn’t manage to smile. There was pain and Liv wanted to take a few minutes to cry alone.

“I'm going to lie down.” She said.

“I’ll bring your dinner.”

“Burn the cutting board.”

“I think I can scrub it pretty clean; it’s seem some horrible things in its time but keeps on kicking.”

Liv nodded and made her way into the bedroom. She pushed up the door some, not sure if she would sob but not wanting Ed to hear. It was a bit silly but she didn’t care. He wasn’t going to judge her for crying while injured. He'd seen her pretty injured before. She'd stopped hiding her tears a while ago but sometimes she just needed to decompress alone. He knew that, he supported that. The door was just a barrier to let him know.

Ed dumped the peppers and looked at the cutting board and knife. There had definitely been a lot of blood. He cleaned it all up and then cleaned up the dishes. The apartment was silent but he still couldn’t hear Liv. He knew how much she wanted to cry right there in front of him but it still wasn’t easy for her. 

Ed always let her know that if she was in pain, physical or otherwise, that letting it out in front of him was not a sign of weakness. But he also let her know that however she chose to express it was OK with him as long as it was healthy. Just two weeks before Liv cried her eyes out watching _Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey_. She declared all family films to be awful and deceitful as it took some time to come down from that emotional fit. 

Tonight was a bit different but that emotion was still the same. Feeling out of control, unable to make yourself better, maybe angry for being hurt in the first place, and surely the pain of the actual injury…Ed knew many of the stages. He would keep an eye on her to make sure that a cut, even a very bad one, didn’t trigger something else entirely. For now he would just make her dinner.

000

Liv had propped up the pillows on the bed and tried not to look at the injury. She'd put on the television, turned on the music channels and was listening to 80s music. Big Country was making her feel a bit better. Ed came in and handed her a bowl. He even added a little cheese and a boiled egg, she always kept three in the fridge for salad. Liv looked at him and smiled.

“And the best part is that Ronin will want nothing to do with it.” Ed said. “He's never been a salad fan. He won't even realize there is M-E-A-T in there.”

“Did you have dinner?”

“I couldn’t really think of anything that struck my fancy.” He was still standing over her but then he sat on the bed. He knew that standing over Liv could be triggering. She'd had enough trauma for the night.

“You have to eat.” Liv used her firm mom tone.

“I know.”

“There are still wings in there from two nights ago.”

“I think I'm going to take those for lunch tomorrow.”

“Well there’s some spaghetti left…Lucy made it the other night. It’s got the turkey meatballs.”

“Hmm, I can eat spaghetti.”

“Have a little spaghetti.” She said.

“Yes, Lieutenant. Do you want a glass of wine?”

“What do you think?”

“And is the pain bearable?” Ed asked smiling. “There are about 200 nerve endings in each finger.”

“It’s OK. It’s not wonderful but I don’t think I need any pain meds. I'm just going to take a big sleeping pill later on. Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For thinking on your feet. It was scary there for a couple of minutes.”

“I, Edward Tucker,” he put his hand over his heart. “Always have your, Olivia Benson’s, back. And your finger if need be.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.” He leaned over and kissed her. “So, wine?”

“Yes, and spaghetti.”

“I'm going right now.” Ed rubbed her thigh, got up from the bed, and left the room.

Liv smiled some as she focused on her salad. Sure enough Ronin made no move from the bottom of the bed to assess the food situation. When she’d been crying earlier he was right there beside her for comfort. Maybe she would take him for his night walk in about an hour. Liv could use some night air and the walk would be good for them both. 

When Ed came back into the bedroom, he had a generous glass of white wine for her. He put it on the nightstand, put his beer on the other nightstand and climbed onto the bed with his bowl of spaghetti. Ronin was mostly awake now and looked at him. Ed held up his hand. The dog ignored him and got up from his sleep spot.

“Ronin, make one more move and you’ll be sleeping outside. I promise.”

The retriever grumbled as Liv laughed. He flopped back down on the bed again, disappointed that he wouldn’t get to enjoy anything from anyone’s bowl tonight.

“Hey, I was going to mention it earlier but we were busy with some other things. I need Noah’s social security number.” Ed said.

“What for?”

“So I can get the cable bill in his name.”

“That’s not funny.” Liv looked at him with a little smile.

“It was funny; you're smiling. I have my meeting with Dana on Thursday so I need his SSN.”

“Who’s Dana?”

“She handles most of my financials…the pension, 401K, life insurance, the bit of money my dad put in trust for the grandkids, that kind of thing. I want to make sure I have Noah on my paperwork in case anything happens to me. I see her twice a year.”

“Seriously?”

“What, that I see her twice a year?” Ed asked.

“Ed…I'm talking about Noah. You want to make sure he's on your life insurance and pension?”

“Of course. If something happens to me, or to us, we need to make sure he's taken care of. I know this is the very unglamorous part of the romance conversation but it’s important to me. Make sure all of your things are in order, Liv.”

“They are.” She nodded.

“And mine will be by Thursday. I talked to the kids, they know it’s going to be split four ways instead of three. No one knows what I have so I don’t have to worry about anyone killing me in my sleep. And I have one separate insurance policy just for you and Noah.”

“This is…” Liv couldn’t even finish her sentence. She looked down at her salad, half done. Between the finger thing and now this she wasn’t sure she could eat anymore.

“I know, it’s not the most romantic thing in the world.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” She sighed. “I love you, Ed. I wish I had known this side of you so long ago, I wish I would've loved you longer.”

“You love me now.” He smiled. “I think that’s pretty damn good. You're going to love me tomorrow too.”

“Thank you; thank you or considering Noah.”

“He, and his mother, are very important to me. Plus I am very much a stickler for keeping my affairs in order.”

Liv leaned over and kissed him. She ate a few more forkfuls of salad and then focused on her wine. She told Ed, who seemed to be enjoying the sounds of Hall and Oates from the television that she would take Ronin on his walk in a few minutes. She needed a little air and maybe a walk around the block before bedtime.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Liv drank a little more wine, leaving half the glass on the nightstand. That would be nice when she came back. She got up from the bed, whistling for the dog. Ronin jumped down too. He knew what that whistle meant, it was time to go for this walk. “Keep the bed warm for me.”

“That’s not going to be a problem. Be safe and take your phone.”

“You got it, Captain.”

Liv gave him a salute as she and Ronin disappeared out of the room. Ed smiled and went back to his dinner. The couple had planned for a quiet night in and despite some terror a little earlier, they could still have one. He planned to hold Liv tight when she got back. They would fall into a comfortable relaxed state together and then sleep. 

If she was in the mood there would be sexiness. If not, Ed would inhale the scent of her skin and remember to count his blessings. Maybe he would ask her to marry him. He was ready, thought for sure that Liv was too. This may have not been the first rodeo for either one of them but it was the last. When you met that right one, you just knew. He knew with all his heart.

***


End file.
